Steve Darron
Steve Darron (born 1941) was an American recording artist, singer, songwriter and producer. He is best known for his solo work in the 1960s and 70s and lead vocalist and guitarist of the Black River Dawn Project in the 1980s. Born in February of 1941 to a local principal father and a charity organizer, he grew up surrounded by the local bar bands and the normal every day go of a schoolboy. His parents, strict Christians and evangelicists, forced him to wear uniforms and cut his hair "properly boy short". His older brother, Isaac, died in war in 1944, putting a burden on the family. In 1959, he graduated, and was refusing college. He was glad to be away from his strict homelife. He began growing very long hair and joined a local band. They disbanded in 1960, although it was a good career start for Steve. Steve latched onto a label in December 1960 and didn't begin recording until January with a school friend John Hallows. In early January of 1961, Darron and Hallows set up several recordings studio reservations, getting one for the 23rd. On that day, Steve recorded his very first single, being an early version of "We're All Alone", a cover by Jack Carson. However it was never released (revealed first in a 2014 interview) and the final version was released as a single in May, recorded in April. Steve released his first album with 4 songs in 1964. Steve's career came to a pause in 1964, due to personal relationships (he married Peggy Jacks in 1965), resuming in 1967, which a 1966 recording of war song "Darkness", "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Boffalongo" released on the solo album "Darron" (labelled for May 1967). In 1968 and 1969, Steve worked with local songwriter Harry Solomon about a possible duo partnership, which was later refused. Darron made his official return when he performed at Woodstock in August 1969, known for his personal song about his wife being pregnant "Preggy" (Jacks and Darron would divorce in 1970). This led to a relationship with David "Doc" Robinson and Sherman Kelly of the band Boffalongo. He latched on with Boffalongo in December 1969, recording 3 songs (on their album "Boffa-Longo" in 1970), and being a lead guitarist on every other hit the band scored until their disband into King Harvest and Orleans in 1971. Darron resumed his solo career. In 1972, Darron married Cynthia David and they concieved triplets in 1973. From 1972 to 1978, Darron had no musical career, as he used the time to spend raising his three children and spending time with his wife, unlike what he did with his former one, leading to their divorce. In 1978, Darron released his homemade album "Jagged", which scored highly popular on Billboards the following year. This led to meeting up with Jack Davidson, Mike Freeman and Peter Jacobs in the canteen of ODO Studios, when recording his next album, which was later cancelled due to him forming a partnership with them and forming a band in October 1979, named the "Black River band". The band recorded tracks which were later cancelled. In January 1980, they renamed their label "Black Dawn River Project" and released their first official album "BDRP" in early February. It proved popular and led to their next even-more-popular albums "BDRP II" and "Anthem" in 1981. By now, Darron had been known as an official co-founder and lead vocalist and guitarist of the band. This is when Darron's career really began. Throughout 1981 to 1989, the band scored multiple extremely popular albums. This included 1983's "Black Dawn", 1987's "Anthem II" and 1990's "BDRP's Greatest Hits". In January 1990, ten years following the band's formation, the band broke up after a long ten year run. During this time, Darron resumed being a solo artist. In 1992, he divorced Cynthia. In 1994, he formed a relationship with Alexandra Lopez which led to a marriage in 1995 and two children in 1997 and 1999. In 1994, he also made an attempt to bring the band back together. This failed however because Freeman died in 1991 and Jacobs was diagnosed with cancer (he died in 1996). In 1998, he released another album, being unpopular. In December 2002, following divorcing Lopez, he released another album which was mildly popular, and led to a sequel in 2003. He had a popular musical career in 2003, 2004 and 2005, when he released his final album for 6 years, "Steve Darron's Music", an anthrology of his entire musical career. He also took time to raise his children he conceived with Lopez. In 2008, his former wife he divorced in 1970, died of brain cancer. He played "Preggy", a song made in 1965 specifically for her, at her funeral, knowing they should have never divorced and could've had a life together, like she wanted. In 2009, Darron stated he was going to release one more album in his career. In June 2011, he released his final solo album "Finality". It was mildly successful. The BDRP was put into the Music Hall of Fame in January 2012. He wasn't seen again in the media until an interview in August 2014. He was diagnosed with skin and liver cancer in September 2013. On July 29th 2014, a medical statement was released saying Darron only had 2 weeks to live in the least. He played a final concert August 11th 2014 with his 2 alive former band members, both older and now-forgotten. Steve died the night of August 11th in his sleep. His honor funeral was held on August 14th. His former wives and children and bandmates attended with a new song titled "Darron". Category:August 17 2014